First Conrail Engine ....

What was the absolute FIRST engine to be painted in Conrail BLUE ??? I've been searching for this for some time and still can't pin it down. Can anyone here help ??? Thanks.

Mark.

JUST blue? Or blue with full Conrail markings?

-otto-

I'm looking for the FIRST unit in the blue scheme with the "can-opener" graphics .... a standard issue Conrail paint job. While I'm here, what is the "plain" blue scheme you are referencing ???

Thanks, Mark.

Some of those first "projects" were all blue, with a ConRail (spelled out just like that) on the nose, and sides. Some had just a CR on the ends, and numbers on the sides. Kind of like patched units, but painted blue. Different paint schemes were applied at different shops, until a standardized scheme, and graphics were decided upon, and locations chosen to apply those repaints. Try "fallen flags" or "conrail cyclopedia" pages, for some early paint schemes. Regards

Thanks for the help guys ! I got the following response from "another" forum regarding the "first" Conrail engine ....

"The inside back cover of the August 1976 Trains has a nice picture of GP40 3091 and it says it is the first. It was painted at Collingwood in Cleveland on May 20, 1976."

Anyone here care to support or rebut this statement ???

Thanks, Mark.

I am going to say that's false. There were publicity photos, showing the intended "new railroads" look, before "C" day, and a loco and caboose were painted for that pic. I will dig around a little, while I am in the middle of packing, and see what I can locate. Regards

GOLDEN-ARM wrote:I am going to say that's false. There were publicity photos, showing the intended "new railroads" look, befroe "C" day, and a loco and caboose were painted for that pic. I will dig around a little, while I am in the middle of packing, and see what I can locate. Regards

I do not agree with this one, I think the 3091 was likely the first engine to
be Painted Conrail blue. Seems to me that this was done as soon as it
was possible in order to set up an advertiseing scheme.
There was nothing to my knowledge immediately after day one of the
merger to indicate just what color would be used.
There were also two other very early paint jobs but they were done for
the bi-centinenal celebration one was a GP-38 but I do not recall the
actual number and the other was GG-1 no. 4800 which was known as
"old riverts". The paint on the two above engines really had no
connection with what the future paint scheme would really look like.
Noel Weaver

That could have been the first, and I do have a plaque with it, in it's new colors, but it was done just after C day, as far I remember. There was also an E-44 painted "big-blue" prior to C day, or in the first few days after. That 3091 might have been the first to receive the "final" Conrail scheme, with the big rolling wheel logo on the side, but this was not the first blue conrail unit. And by "final" I know about the later white stripe on the frame, as well as CQ units. This is referring to the accepted standard, of same size letters, in nose logos, as well as standardized numer size and placement, and standardized road and yard logo variations. I do have a pre 4-1-76 phot, of a blue ConRail unit (lettering spelled like that) from a press release package, that also includes photos of all the "big six" prior roads that made up CR. I do agree, on the 3091 being that first unit in official paint, just not the first blue conrail unit. Regards

Thanks for the assistance guys - I think I can safely say my question has been answered in terms of what I was after .... in the form of GP-40 #3091.

Mark.

The first Conrail blue painted diesel locomotive was GP-40# 3091 which was painted in Collinwood Shops in May, 1976.

I was a train dispatcher for CR in Youngstown and I was called by the editor of Railway Age and asked to go to Cleveland and photograph it, which I did.

This was the first blue diesel.

SMT

Now that the question has been answered, how about the last Conrail locomotive painted discounting the new heritage unit and Conrail 2233 for the Railroad Museum of Pa.

ns2110 wrote:Now that the question has been answered, how about the last Conrail locomotive painted discounting the new heritage unit and Conrail 2233 for the Railroad Museum of Pa.

See here:

http://railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.ph ... &start=465

ns2110 wrote:Now that the question has been answered, how about the last Conrail locomotive painted discounting the new heritage unit and Conrail 2233 for the Railroad Museum of Pa.

Last order of Conrail locomotives were SD70's ,
they were painted in CR blue, but arrived with NS numbers:

http://crcyc.railfan.net/locos/emd/sd70/sd70rost.html

So the "last Conrail locomotive" (and probably the last painted, since it is the only one indicated as being built in November 1998)
would be Conrail SD70 2580, who became NS 2580 only 6 months later..

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=407477

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... ?id=977245

they didnt need to be "patched"!
She wore blue until 2008..now she is in black:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=2174626

Scot

So Conrail stopped painting six months ahead of the June 1st split?

I don't think there was anything to paint in the last months.......

Charlie